Bragg, Stockdale, Hall & Co.

As what would have been the oldest independent stockbroking house remaining in the City of London, Bragg, Stockdale, Hall & Co’s history began when John Bragg, Esq, a “Gentleman of London” and “friend of the Right Honourable Earls of Portsmouth and Carlisle”, was elected a member of the London Stock Exchange on April 3rd, 1824, and opened his offices at No. 6, Throgmorton Street, where the Old Stock Exchange Tower stands today.

Within a year his clients included twenty-one-year-old stock speculator Benjamin Disraeli, later British Prime Minister, and after that Earl of Beaconsfield.

In 1846 George Stockdale, Esq, was elected to the stock exchange and soon after became partner, changing the name of the company to Bragg & Stockdale as their account ledger below in the Bank of England shows the following year.

The success and reputation of Bragg & Stockdale grew within the British Empire and beyond, acting as brokers for new enterprises from Munich to Mauritius, Antwerp to the Americas.

In 1871, Frederic Evans Hall, Esq, already an employee of Bragg &  Stockdale was elected to the stock exchange as a full member.

And in 1888, was made partner, and the firm took the name of Bragg, Stockdale, Hall & Co.

By the early 20th century Bragg, Stockdale, Hall & Co was still among the top two dozen stockbrokers in London and in the latter part of that century,  their offices had  moved to Salisbury House on London Wall under their senior partner Michael Brudenell-Bruce, then Viscount of Savernake, who later became the Earl of Cardigan, and is today the 8th Marquess of Ailesbury.

In 1975, they merged with stockbrokers Fiske & Co, also of Salisbury House, with Lord Ailesbury joining Clive Fiske Harrison, who had previously worked at Panmure Gordon & Co under senoir partner Ian Cameron, father of future British Prime Minister David Cameron and chairman of White’s Club.

The new concern of Fiske – Bragg, Stockdale, Hall & Co took the simpler name of Fiske following the merger. And, following the acquisition of all its older City rivals such as Quilter & Co, founded in 1771 and acquired by Commercial Union in 1988, or Cazenove & Co, founded 1823 and acquired by J P Morgan Chase in 2010,  it became the oldest independent stockbroking house in the City of London.

Lord Ailesbury would go on to become a director under Clive Fiske Harrison as managing director when Fiske became a limited company, and continued to be so when it went public and listed on the London Stock Exchange. It currently has almost £1 billion in assets under management.

In 1980, the Bragg, Stockdale, Hall & Co name was allowed to fall into abeyance, until 2021, when it was revived by Alexander Fiske-Harrison, a director of Fiske plc and son of Clive Fiske Harrison.

Bragg, Stockdale, Hall & Co proudly sponsors women’s polo team Las Sacras Romanas – ‘The Holy Romans’ – who made it to the semi-finals of the British Ladies’ Open Championship at Cowdray Park Polo Club.

 

Bragg, Stockdale, Hall & Co
Incorporated at Companies House, 80 Petty France, Westminster, London SW1H 9EX, United Kingdom
Company Number 13777423

contact@braggstockdalehall.com